REPRESENTING JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN 100 COUNTRIES ACROSS SIX CONTINENTS

Leading official of Hungarian extremist party accuses Jews of colonializing country

Fri, 03 Feb 2012

Márton Gyöngyösi, deputy leader and foreign affairs spokesman of Jobbik, the far-right party with representation in the Hungarian parliament, has openly questioned the Holocaust, claimed that Jews were colonizing Hungary and that Israeli treatment of the Palestinians amounted to a "Nazi system". In an interview with the Britsh weekly ‘Jewish Chronicle’, Gyöngyösi questioned whether Jews have “the right to talk about what happened during the Second World War".

Gyöngyösi - a member of parliament - questioned whether 400,000 Hungarian Jews really were killed or deported to the Nazi camps during the World War II. "It has become a fantastic business to jiggle around with the numbers," he told the newspaper. Jobbik (which translates as Movement for a Better Hungary) currently holds 47 parliamentary seats and is the country’s third largest party. It is notorious for its homophobic, anti-Jewish and anti-Roma stance. An official in the Hungarian Foreign Ministry told the ‘Jewish Chronicle’: "We are very, very worried. The prime minister [Viktor Orban] could easily fall in the coming months, taking the ruling party down with him, and Jobbik is well-placed to become the largest party in Parliament in an election."

In 2007, Jobbik leader Gabor Vona set up the paramilitary Hungarian Guard, a now-banned civil defense force which patrolled the streets and used insignia similar to the Arrow Cross, the Hungarian fascist movement that helped the Nazis murder many of the country's Jews. Jobbik is opposed to foreign investment and sees Israeli business as a threatening force inside the country. Referring to a speech made by Shimon Peres in 2007 in which the Israeli President celebrated the success of Israeli businessmen around the world, including Hungary, Gyöngyösi said: "Jews are looking to build outside of Israel. There is a kind of expansionism in their behavior. If Peres is supporting colonisation, it is a natural reaction for people to feel that Jews are not welcome here."

Israel was founded by "terrorists" and today ran a "Nazi system, based on racial hatred. Look at [Foreign Minister Avigdor] Lieberman, he's no different to Goebbels. He is a pure Nazi", Gyöngyösi declared in the interview.

Meanwhile, the ‘Jewish Chronicle’ said Jobbik is seeking to cultivate a relationship with Iran. In January last year, Vona took the Iranian ambassador to the Hungarian town of Tiszavasvari, which he called "the capital of our movement". And in October, Jobbik hosted a large Iranian delegation to Hungary, at which Vona declared: "For Iran, Hungary is the gate to the West." Gyöngyösi told the Jewish newspaper that “Iran is in the center of a Middle East axis that Israel and the US want to subjugate and keep under their control. Iran is an extremely peaceful country and never started a war, unlike Israel which has declared wars on anything and everybody around it."

We welcome any comments you may have on this article.
Comments are moderated and we reserve the right to edit or remove any which are derogatory or offensive.
The WJC is not responsible for the content of any comments.

“The notion that a figure such as Stepan Bandera – a Nazi collaborator during the Second World War who is deeply controversial within Ukrainian society and beyond – will be celebrated in this way is deeply troubling."

Rona Ramon was a brave and courageous woman, who taught an entire nation how to gracefully and nobly contend with the greatest griefs. Following the great disasters that took the lives of her husband and child, Mrs. Ramon dedicated her own life to helping others live theirs – not only coping, but also rising from pain and sorrow.

“We are extremely concerned by the steady rise of antisemitic vandalism facing the Jewish community in Greece and elsewhere in Europe. This desecration, as well as the vandalization of cemeteries in Poland and in France in the past week alone, should ring alarm bells for anyone who believes that these incidents are isolated and passing.

The attack is “shocking and dismaying in itself, made all the more distressing by the fact that it took place on Yom Kippur, evoking the terrible tragedies that occurred in German-occupied Poland during the years of the Holocaust,” WJC President Ronald Lauder said.

Cookies allows us to recognise and remember visitors to our website. Cookies are used for various purposes and you can choose which types to accept below. Not allowing cookies may effect the way you are able to interact with the WJC website. Our detailed Cookie Policy can be found here.

Mandatory cookies help make this website usable by enabling basic functions like page navigation and access to secure areas of the website. Our website cannot function properly without these cookies.

Statistics cookies

Statistic cookies help us understand how visitors interact with this website, for example seeing which pages are most popular. This information is collected anonymously and helps us improve the site by making the most sought after information easy to find.

Marketing cookies

Marketing cookies are used to track visitors across websites allowing the display of ads that are relevant and engaging for the visitor. Whilst we do not display any advertising on the WJC website, allowing marketing cooking may allow other sites to see that you have visited our site.